The Law of Unintended Consequences is real and only a fool wouldn't consider it when making decisions. So, clearly, President Joe Biden made no such consideration when he pardoned his son for any and all crimes he may have committed during an obscenely long period.
But if the supposedly political prosecution of his son was sufficient reason in and of itself for the pardon, what about other people busted for having a gun when they couldn't?
On Tuesday, rapper NBA Youngboy--seriously, where do these guys get these names?--was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison for having a gun while a prohibited person.
A Utah federal judge on Tuesday sentenced NBA Youngboy to just under two years in prison on gun-related charges after the Baton Rouge-based rapper acknowledged he had possessed guns despite being a convicted felon. The pact also resolved Utah state charges against him.
The rapper, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, was credited with time served dating to May 2024. The plea settled two sets of federal charges — one carries a 23-month sentence and the other lays out 60 months of probation and a $200,000 fine.
Gaulden reached the agreement with federal prosecutors in September and he and the attorneys signed the pact Tuesday. The rapper acknowledged that, while filming a rap video in Baton Rouge, he possessed a Glock 21 .45-caliber pistol and a Masterpiece Arms MPA30T 9mm handgun. Also, he said, in April 2024 he possessed a Sig Sauer 9mm semi-automatic pistol at his home in Huntsville, Utah. He agreed to give up the guns.
And since he first ended up on law enforcement radar by pretending to be a doctor in order to get pain pills, the parallels to Hunter Biden are staggering.
So where's his pardon?
I mean, you're going to be hard-pressed to tell me that people like Joe Biden don't think Gaulden was prosecuted simply because he was black. We've seen that argument way too many times not to figure this has to factor in somewhere. How then would anyone who believes any such thing figure that a racist prosecution is morally better than a political one?
Frankly, anyone who actually thought such a thing--I'm talking about in the abstract here, now, not with these specific cases--needs to have their moral compass recalibrated, potentially with a shovel.
Anyway, where's Gaulden's pardon?
What about literally any of the other people who have been prosecuted for the exact same crime?
A rapper who is also a convicted felon too much of a stretch for you?
OK, how about Deja Taylor?
Taylor is the mother of a child who took her gun and shot his teacher in a Virginia elementary school. Remember that one? Most of us do because it was so shocking. She was sentenced to 21 months in prison over a year ago on the same gun charges that Hunter was convicted of. Moreover, because of the nature of the crime, there was political pressure to actually prosecute this case, much like how there was with Hunter. Taylor smoked pot, which is legal in a number of states, even if federal law doesn't recognize that fact. Hunter smoked crack.
Where's her pardon? She warrants one just as much as Hunter. In fact, since she didn't have the tax evasion charges, to say nothing of influence peddling accusations against her, she's arguably a better candidate for pardoning than Hunter.
While the pardon isn't exactly breaking news, as we sit here, there are still a lot of people who did what Hunter did and who didn't have the benefit of a connected daddy to get them out of trouble.
Where are their pardons?